Early intervention

Reprimand

A Reprimand is a formal verbal warning given by a police officer to a young person who admits they are guilty of a minor first offence. Sometimes the young person can be referred to the Youth Offending Team (Yot) to take part in a voluntary programme to help them address their offending behaviour.

Final Warning

A Final Warning is a formal verbal warning given by a police officer to a young person who admits their guilt for a first or second offence. Unlike a Reprimand, however, the young person is also assessed to determine the causes of their offending behaviour and a programme of activities is identified to address them. The Final Warning system is part of the 1998 Crime and Disorder Act.

Acceptable Behaviour Contracts

An Acceptable Behaviour Contract is given when a local authority and Youth Offending Team (Yot) identify a young person who is behaving anti-socially at a low level. With the young person and their parents/carers, they agree a contract under which the young person agrees to stop the patterns of behaviour that are causing nuisance to the local community and undertake activities to address their offending behaviour.

If they breach the terms of the contract, the local authority can use this to get an Anti-Social Behaviour Order applied to the young person.